Drastic changes in the transportation industry have occurred in the past forty years. Passengers that formerly depended on the railroad for long distance transportation are now traveling by air and the personal automobile is used by those who must make shorter trip. The railroad today moves freight that is not handled by trucks. Car trains, observation cars and other promotions encourage travelers who are not in a particular hurry to "relax and take the train", but thc method of securing the doors on railroad passenger cars has not changed during these many years.
The passenger train remains a series of passenger cars pulled over the tracks by the locomotive one behind the other. Each passenger car has seats so accommodate passengers on both sides of the car and a vestibule at the front and rear of the car. Entry and exit from the car is provided by a door that opens into the vestibule. The door or doors may he at either end and on either side of the car.
Railroad car doors are mounted on hinges to the front door jam in a manner that permits the rear edge of the door to swing inwardly and forward into the vestibule. This hinge mounting prevents the door of a passenger car from opening toward the outside of the train.
Over the years a number of passengers have been killed or injured due to leaving the car while the train is in motion. Apparently passengers were exiting the car doors thinking they were entering the bathroom. These tragedies generally end up it litigation against the railroad. While this problem could be solved by having the conductor locking all doors with a key before the train is in motion and unlocking the doors after the train is stopped, this procedure would be extremely time consuming because of the number of doors and the distance between doors, disrupting the schedule and increasing the time taken to reach the destination.
My invention solves; these problems by automatically latching the doors that exit a passenger car when the car reaches a speed of 10-15 miles per hour. When the train stops, the lock is released.